Grassley: Value Added Tax Would Add to Americans' Tax Burden
M E M O R A N D U M
TO: Reporters and Editors
RE: Volcker comments on VAT
DA: Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Senator Chuck Grassley, Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Finance, made the following comment about the suggestion by White House economic adviser Paul Volcker that the United States should consider imposing a Value Added Tax, or national sales tax.
“During his campaign for office, the President ran on several tax promises. I won't go into the ones that were undone with the health care bill. But a key promise was to restrain the growth in government, so the federal revenue base would stay within its historic average of 18.2 percent. Now, with the permanent explosion of federal spending across the board, Chairman Volcker is giving an unvarnished assessment of where the Administration feels it must go. To make up for the largest levels of spending and deficits in modern history, the Administration is laying the foundation for a large, misguided new tax, a first-time American VAT. The Democratic leadership in Congress has said much the same thing. If the President wants to add completely new layers of taxation, then he should take this issue before the American people when he runs for re-election. The Administration and the Democratic leadership are asking the American taxpayer to make up for their inability to do what every responsible American household does, and that is to live within their means.”
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